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The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"The types of activities in which [Penn State Outing Club] engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," according to an official announcement.

A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage. This wasn't an issue during the Coolidge administration, but now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times.

"Student safety in any activity is our primary focus," Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman, told The Post-Gazette.

And yet the treasurer of the Outing Club said that he hadn't heard of any injuries sustained on club outings in recent years.

It is all about the money. The universtity offers the same types of outings but charges more. Can't have the competition offering more for less.

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^ It's hard for the cynical side of me to not agree with that, but let's say that's not the real concern......even then, I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of the non-publicly discussed topics that came up in closed-door or otherwise unofficial discussions.

The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"The types of activities in which [Penn State Outing Club] engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," according to an official announcement.

A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage. This wasn't an issue during the Coolidge administration, but now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times.

"Student safety in any activity is our primary focus," Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman, told The Post-Gazette.

And yet the treasurer of the Outing Club said that he hadn't heard of any injuries sustained on club outings in recent years.

someone is punking me right ?

I don't think that this is necessarily framing the issue in the right way.

I think that in today's litigious society (rather than the article's snarky "now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times" retort - remember, it's not just the students that matter, here, there's also their parents/guardians, who may not share the same enthusiasm for this club as their sons/daughters), the University has to cover its bases, and allowing for students to trek out there into the great unknown in activities that carry significant levels of personal risk *_without_* the ability to summon timely help...I think that it's not unfair for the university to be watching out for its own interests.

That said, I don't see why the university couldn't simply require this particular hobbyist group to secure means of communication suitable to their activities' risk levels and remote locations - for example, there are many devices now on the market which, while pricey, will enable both iPhones and Android phones for satellite communications - or, for that matter, why the club organizers did not consider this type of contingency themselves.

I get it - it is a bigger risk for the university to undertake.

But isn't that at least part of what higher learning is about? Learning to properly assess one's risks, and learning to properly mitigate them?

Nope, not about the money at all. The University run adventure business just happened to double their prices right before the announcement was made that the student run adventure club was being shut down.

Also, SPOTs are relatively cheap and work pretty much anywhere those students are going to go.

Last edited by WY_Not on Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Learn how Project Appleseed is supporting freedom through Marksmanship and Heritage clinics.

Samuel Adams wrote:If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

TSiWRX wrote:^ It's hard for the cynical side of me to not agree with that, but let's say that's not the real concern......even then, I'd be surprised if it wasn't one of the non-publicly discussed topics that came up in closed-door or otherwise unofficial discussions.

The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"The types of activities in which [Penn State Outing Club] engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," according to an official announcement.

A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently visit locations with poor cell phone coverage. This wasn't an issue during the Coolidge administration, but now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times.

"Student safety in any activity is our primary focus," Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman, told The Post-Gazette.

And yet the treasurer of the Outing Club said that he hadn't heard of any injuries sustained on club outings in recent years.

someone is punking me right ?

I don't think that this is necessarily framing the issue in the right way.

I think that in today's litigious society (rather than the article's snarky "now that cell phones exist, students are apparently expected to remain glued to them at all times" retort - remember, it's not just the students that matter, here, there's also their parents/guardians, who may not share the same enthusiasm for this club as their sons/daughters), the University has to cover its bases, and allowing for students to trek out there into the great unknown in activities that carry significant levels of personal risk *_without_* the ability to summon timely help...I think that it's not unfair for the university to be watching out for its own interests.

That said, I don't see why the university couldn't simply require this particular hobbyist group to secure means of communication suitable to their activities' risk levels and remote locations - for example, there are many devices now on the market which, while pricey, will enable both iPhones and Android phones for satellite communications - or, for that matter, why the club organizers did not consider this type of contingency themselves.

I get it - it is a bigger risk for the university to undertake.

But isn't that at least part of what higher learning is about? Learning to properly assess one's risks, and learning to properly mitigate them?

I wouldn't hold this decision up as anything resembling a proper assessment of risk, nor an appropriate mitigation.

WY_Not wrote:Nope, not about the money at all. The University run adventure business just happened to double their prices right before the announcement was made that the student run adventure club was being shut down. :p

Like I said, it's hard for me to not be cynical and say that's not the real underlying reason.

Also, SPOTs are relatively cheap and work pretty much anywhere those students are going to go.

$1K (at least that's the ones that I've been aware of, via various outdoor-sports magazines/e-zines like GearJunkie) ain't cheap for a college club, though...and I would imagine that they'd need more than one unit out of the need for redundancy alone, and that's assuming that only one such outing is scheduled at a time.

Speaking for little 'ol SW Ohio.....the Student Vet Association on campus has essentially given up doing any activites. Everything vets enjoy, the university doesn't, and any fund raisers we do to fund things on the side, so to speak, have to be approved by the university and we have to give the funds to the university, to then request access to them.

jeep45238 wrote:Speaking for little 'ol SW Ohio.....the Student Vet Association on campus has essentially given up doing any activites. Everything vets enjoy, the university doesn't, and any fund raisers we do to fund things on the side, so to speak, have to be approved by the university and we have to give the funds to the university, to then request access to them.

It’s about control. Gun control is about controlling the population. Same here, just adifferent dress. Control the students (and then some pigs are more equal than others....)

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